1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a drive assist apparatus for calculating a recommended speed at which a self-vehicle can pass through an intersection located ahead of the self-vehicle in a travelling direction of the self-vehicle while a traffic signal installed at the intersection is green and notifying a driver of the calculated recommended speed.
2. Description of the Related Art
As a related-art drive assist apparatus, there is one for informing a driver of a recommended speed suitable for a road on which a self-vehicle is running (see, for example, Japanese Patent Application Laid-open No. 2012-133624). According to Japanese Patent Application Laid-open No. 2012-133624, when it is determined that there is a speed at which a self-vehicle can pass through at least one intersection located ahead of the self-vehicle in a travelling direction of the self-vehicle while a traffic signal installed at the at least one intersection is green based on signal indication information on the traffic signal installed at the at least one intersection, a distance from the self-vehicle to the at least one intersection, and a vehicle state of the self-vehicle, the driver is notified of the speed as a recommended speed.
However, the related art has the following problem.
The drive assist apparatus disclosed in Japanese Patent Application Laid-open No. 2012-133624 does not take traffic situations on the road on which the self-vehicle is running into consideration when calculating the recommended speed at which the self-vehicle can pass through the intersection located ahead of the self-vehicle in the travelling direction of the self-vehicle while the traffic signal installed at the intersection is green. Therefore, when the road has a traffic jam, for example, there is a problem in that the speed, which is not suitable because the traffic jam is not taken into consideration, is undesirably notified.